State Sen. Tommy Norment said Gov. Terry McAuliffe's State of the Commonwealth speech shows why the governor "deserves marketer of the year for 2015."
“There were promises to every Democratic constituency,” he said. “I don’t...

State Sen. Jeff McWaters dropped an eyebrow raiser Tuesday during a John Fredericks Show interview.
Fredericks asked what's next for the Republican Senate caucus now that it has narrow control of the chamber.
"... we have a focus on jobs. We have a...

With 10 days to go until the scheduled end of this year’s General Assembly session, is it too early to wonder what happens if the impasse on Medicaid expansion doesn’t break?
So far, nobody’s seriously (as opposed to rhetorically)...

Yea or nay?
The citizens of Virginia seem to be in favor of an independent re-drawing of our electoral district map. This Editorial Board has also advocated that. Even the General Assembly seems to lean in that direction — in principle. But in...

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RICHMOND — Since its inception, the Hampton Roads Transportation Accountability Commission has had growing pains.
Legislators brought some of them to the Virginia General Assembly this session, tinkering with an organization that isn't even a year old, but holds the keys to hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of future transportation spending.
Del. Jeion Ward, D-Hampton, has a bill to change the way population estimates used to portion out voting power on the commission are figured. It's...

A bill floating through the General Assembly that would allow local cities and counties to prohibit the use of most plastic shopping bags is meant primarily to combat the harm these bags cause to the environment and aquatic life.
But sea turtles, dolphins and whales aside, some of the biggest beneficiaries of this legislation could be cotton farmers.
State Sen. Jeffrey McWaters, R-Virginia Beach, said the Virginia Beach City Council had asked him to work on a bill that would let it prohibit most...

State legislators are working on a massive overhaul of Virginia's Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, saying they want it to run more like a business.
The ABC would still be a state-run liquor monopoly under Senate Bill 1032 and a companion bill in the Virginia House of Delegates. It would still raise hundreds of millions for the state budget.
But the board would become an authority, run more like the Virginia Port Authority than a state government agency. It would be exempt from the state's procurement...

RICHMOND – Republican state senators shot down changes to the state's equal pay regulations on Monday.
Senate Bill 772 would have toughened existing penalties for not paying men and women an equal wage for equal work, making the penalty triple wages instead of double.
It also would have prohibited employers from punishing employees who share salary information. It also would have removed an exemption in the state's current equal pay statute which exempts companies already covered by the federal...

Senate Republicans killed off this year's minimum wage increase request Monday, shooting down a Democratic bill to increase the floor to $10.10 an hour over the next two-and-a-half years.
The vote was 11-3 to lay the bill aside for the rest of this legislative session, a motion offered by Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. "Tommy" Norment, R-James City.
Senate Bill 681 would have increased the minimum wage in Virginia to $8 an hour come July 1. It would take the rate up to $9 an hour next year and to...

UPDATE: Gov. Bob McDonnell late Thursday said he would sign the redistricting legislation passed by the General Assembly "as soon as it reaches my desk." In a statement, the governor said the legislation approved by state lawmakers earlier in the day addresses most of the concerns he had voiced in vetoing an earlier version of the bill. He singled out the work on the Senate plan, for which he had reserved his harshest criticism, praising Republicans and Democrats who came up with a compromise.
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